Title: Fling Club
Author: Tara Brown
Series: Serendipity #1
Publication date: August 14th, 2018
Pages: 304
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
It's revenge--sweet and hot--in the first book of this sexy and wickedly funny series by international bestselling author Tara Brown.
For the young, rich, and beautiful, summertime in the Hamptons means one thing: Fling Club. Only this time, Cherry Kennedy won't be selecting a boy for a fleeting romance. Nope, this season, Cherry is out for revenge. Her target? The Fling Club founder and society darling who slept with Cherry's now-very-ex-boyfriend. And all Cherry needs is the perfect guy for her plan...
Ashley Jardine can't afford to refuse. He scored almost a full ride to MIT. But that almost still costs a lot. And this is so much money for a little game of revenge and a chance--albeit short--to live the high life. Here, rich girls rule the shore, and everyone has a role to play. Only nothing in the job description warned Ashley that the redhead who's running the scheme would be so crazy. And cute. Or that he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her.
Now, everything is going according to plan--until an unexpected attraction raises the stakes. It's enough to turn the perfect payback into absolute heartbreak.
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Review:
After a very prolonged and unwanted break from reading, I am back in the saddle and reaching for a random book that has been cluttering my electronic TBR list for some time. I didn't waste much time on reading the description and went strictly for the fact that it was on a New Adult list that I frequented. I was anxious to dive into the world of damaged college students just trying to find their reason for existing and also maybe a soulmate along the way.
Cherry was the stereotypical society girl. She attends the most prestigious school, has the wealth of many generations of blue bloods, and spends her summers in the Hamptons as is customary. She knows no other life and has long since accepted her life at face value. All that changes when she walks in on her boyfriend giving it to the Queen Bee of her elitist group.
From that moment Cherry is out for revenge. She wants to bring down her sovereign leader and show her the suffering she has put any number of her minions through, including Cherry. With the help of her brother and sister, a plot of revenge and retribution is concocted. But she would need a leading man to help in her pursuit.
Enter Ashley, an MIT robotics nerd in need of some serious cash fast. With the offer of little-to-no work involved, a summer in the Hamptons and a huge payday at the end, who would turn it down? But neither Ashley nor Cherry were expecting the sparks between them to fly as thoroughly as they did. But what will become more important to them: money/revenge or love?
First let me start by saying that the book was not the worst I had ever read. The plot seemed a bit underdeveloped and I kind of felt like I was listening to someone tell me a second hand story that they had heard from someone else, who had passed it down from their cousin's mother's hairdresser's son. Something seemed just a bit scattered. Why not simply have Cherry and Ashley flaunt their romance? From the character development of Cait (the evil Queen Bee) this would have bothered her and pushed her to be reckless as much as their complicated ploy. The scheme just seemed a very round-about way of getting what they wanted. Add to that the fact that the scheme they they carefully came up with ended up not even to be utilized. I know... "wait, what?"
It also seems like there are ZERO really likable characters. Cherry was a depressive twit who I was so tired of seeing bash herself. Ashley was a snob who hated rich people with a passion for simply existing (they never outright wronged him). Cherry's brother and sister treated Cherry like an idiot and their equally blunt approach to Cherry was cringy. It was like people beating on a puppy. Hard to watch and gave me serious bully vibes from the PROTAGONISTS.
Normally I at least offer a tidbit of something that I found redeemable about the story but after sitting here for 10 minutes contemplating. I can't really find anything I can truly mention. Fling Club was just a hodge-bodge of 'huh?' with a healthy dose of 'what?' and a sprig of 'just... no.'
